Those Scribbles on Tree Bark
by Miss Earlie Byrd
Summary: Kagome Higurashi is a 22 year old author with anti-social tendencies and a thoroughly normal life, that is until a bruised and broken dog demon comes crashing through her door ruining her peaceful existence and her cream carpet. AU InuKag
1. In which Worlds Collide

**Those Scribbles on Tree Bark**

**Summary - **Kagome Higurashi is a 22 year old author with anti-social tendencies and a thoroughly normal life, that is until a bruised and broken dog demon comes crashing through her door ruining her peaceful existence and her crème carpet. AU I/K There's a little violence at the beginning but that's all really…for now mwahahaha! – ahem -. This is an AU, so Kagome never fell down the well, they are meeting for the first time at an older age (Kagome is 22), Inuyasha is still a half dog demon (I couldn't get rid of the ears!), and the rest I hope you'll figure out (with me) along the way! - insert cheesy grin -

**A/N - **Hello there all you fine people of the world. I am Earlie Byrd and this is my first fic. I hope you like it, I have the whole thing planned out but I'm not sure if people would be interested in this sort of thing so I'm begging for your support/advice/contempt, it's all good! So if you like the idea and want me to continue please take a few moments to review, or even if you simply say "you suck like one of those…suckyfish things that cling to the tank" then at least I will know to move on. So buckle your shoes and comb your eyelashes here it is:

I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters in it, I also do not own a fluffy warthog but that's another story…

**Chapter 1 – **In which Worlds Collide and a Crème Carpet is Ruined.

"NO!"

The air was thick with screams, and smoke and the stench of blood. The moon appeared from behind a cloud and illuminated the scene; a man was fighting desperately with a warped creature. It had a human looking body, but other appendages, slimy and reeking groped around with a life of their own, extended from various parts of him. Its one eye was burst and the empty socket gaped at the onlookers as blood poured from it. The man fighting it raised a large sword and sliced an arm from the thing, but the fleshy pink appendages grabbed him and squeezed until a loud sickening crack was heard and the man's body was hurled to the floor a mass of gashes and wounds. The man had long silver hair and what looked like dog ears on his head; he slowly raised himself from the ground, steadying himself on his sword.

A woman with a large boomerang struck the creature, whilst a large cat guarded her from any harm.

"Naraku!" shouted the woman as she struck the creature again and again, "I will kill you for what you did to my people. Inuyasha, get up, quickly!"

The silver haired man was upright now and approaching the creature on unsteady limbs, Naraku was near-dead, he could smell it. He doubted that he would survive this battle, but if he took Naraku down then he didn't care.

He was seized again around the throat, and he gagged at the stink of rotting flesh that the slimy appendage gave out. He struggled, but felt his limbs begin to grow heavy as he stated to suffocate. All of a sudden the fleshy growth was slashed and the silver haired man set free, he didn't need to turn and see his rescuer, Sesshoumaru's scent was easily recognisable to him. He growled, there was no way he would thank his proud half-brother. Picking up the large fang-shaped sword he hurled a great destructive force at Naraku.

Many people had fled, but some were watching in the safety of shrubbery in the surrounding area. It was a large group attacking the creature, and they appeared to be slowly winning. This wasn't the first battle between these demons; the villagers had heard of others, it had been going on for many years.

The silver haired man was pulled quickly out of the path of the Naraku creature by a monk,

"Inuyasha! What good to us are you if you're dead? Go and find somewhere to recuperate!"

Inuyasha ignored him and hurled himself back towards the creature, sword swinging as he unleashed a barrage of powerful attacks. Then something small and shining fell from a gash in the creature and rolled across the dirt. Time seemed to freeze, everyone went deadly still for what appeared to be an eternity, then they closed in, everyone aiming for the tiny purple jewel that glittered on the dirty ground. Inuyasha reached it and closed his hand quickly around it snatching it to his body, then at the encouragement of his teammates he ran away from the creature as fast as he could. The creature swelled and quivered as it grew desperate, Naraku was moving swiftly after Inuyasha, fleshy appendages sucking the life of the surrounding area.

Inuyasha ran into a clearing, running swiftly he threw his arms behind him to make his body more streamlined, he could hear and smell Naraku, he was close.

Then the ground disappeared beneath him, and he fell startled into a disused well, recovering from his shock he was about to jump out when a purple grow enveloped him. He was being drawn down, through the bottom of the well, Naraku had tricked him! The silver haired man fought against the pull but eventually was sucked through the bottom of the well.

Inuyasha regained consciousness as his senses went into overdrive, wherever he was, it was nothing like the place he had come from. He could smell so many different scents. Opening an amber eye cautiously he noticed he was still in the well, jumping swiftly out in one clear motion he landed gracefully, and stopped.

Around him was a small area of greenery, and after that huge structures dominated the skyline, strange things went past as incredible speed. He could see people now, with odd clothing, the vast array of new sights and smells nearly overwhelmed him. Where the hell was he?

Suddenly he was aware of being approached from behind; he tensed and quickly turned forgetting about his injured state, he collapsed as he turned. Looking up he saw a human girl, she bent closely to him,

"Are you ok there?"

He could understand her! Not only that, she appeared to be enquiring about his health. She didn't seem to be afraid of him at all. He gave a minute nod, but continued to stare disbelievingly at the girl,

"I like your costume, is it a fancy dress party?"

"What are you blithering about wench?" he snapped, pretty annoyed with the whole situation, the girl blinked at him, and then laughed! She was laughing at him!

"I'm Eri, what's your name eh?"

She really wasn't getting it was she; still, she had guts to laugh at a hanyou he supposed.

"I need to get far away from here wench, where shall I go?" he asked in what could possibly considered a polite tone, if the closest you'd come to polite was a swift kick to the face.

"Hmm," she considered, appearing to not mind his rudeness, "well you could get a train, that'd take you far away quickly, but why would you want to leave Nagoya?"

"Then take me to one," he demanded

"What, any train?"

He glared at the girl who shrugged and motioned for him to follow, she lead him through complex streets close to the massive structures and held him back when he tried to walk in front of the giant bug-like creatures that travelled on grey tracks. She even put him on a train, which was some giant worm like structure where humans apparently went on when they wanted to travel quickly. Suddenly it started, the silver haired man was travelling fast, he could run quickly but this was something else entirely.

He had an odd urge to stick his head out of the window.

As scenes flashed past outside he idly wondered where all the green had gone, he was badly injured and exhausted but he refused to allow himself to sleep grimly digging his claws into his hand when his tiredness threatened to overwhelm him.

He didn't know how much time had passed, all he knew was that he had been on the train for a very long time, surely now he must be far enough away. He was tapped on the shoulder by a middle aged man with a large belly protruding over black trousers,

"Ticket?" he said in a dull voice, hand held out expectantly

"What?"

"Where's your train ticket?" sighed the attendant

"I don't know what you're talking about, now go away!" the silver haired man commanded

"If you don't have a ticket, I'm throwing you off at the next stop!" The train attendant said, hauling Inuyasha up and dragging him to the door.

The dog demon would have fought back, but his energy was severely depleted and his injuries were making movement more and more difficult. Dragged through the carriage and then forced through the doors the moment the train stopped, the silver haired man found himself by a little town. He stood on a grassy bank, it was dark and the rain began to pelt furiously against him, his sense of smell was dulled by the damp and he tried to seek anything familiar. He needed somewhere warm and dry, somewhere to heal his wounds and hide the Shikon no Tama.

Suddenly he caught a scent; it smelled like Kirara, the cat demon that protected Sango, the woman demon-slayer. If Sango and Kirara had made it here, then perhaps Miroku had too, they needed time to heal and regroup, and now that they had the Jewel and Naraku did not they could take their time. Using his last surge of energy he hurtled towards the smell, a large building with many stairs inside. Finally reaching where the scent came from he found his way blocked by a door; that was no problem, he quickly smashed through hurling himself against it.

And that was the moment that Inuyasha came crashing through the front door and he fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

A bird came to rest on a white windowsill belonging to the inhabitant of Flat 3.1, a small block sitting just on the edge of a sleepy little town. Beyond it lay the rolling hills, a picture of green, now and again dashed with colour where wild flowers grew. The small bird ruffled its brown feathers and began to sing, a beautiful sound to fill the town still enveloped in the quiet, sleepy morning.

Inside the window the curtains were drawn, a pale lemon silk elegantly draped with a small gap in the middle allowing some light into the room behind them. The room inside was elegantly furnished, it gave the impression that someone had decided it should look nice and then allowed reality to take over. The floor was covered in books and paper, and clothes lay scattered across a petite crème sofa. The bed was large and on a lemon drape across the bottom lay a very fat cat, sprawled inelegantly on its back. The yellow covers lay draped over a large lump in the bed, covering it completely.

The lump stirred, an eye opened a fraction and a hand slowly drew the covers back as a second eye opened and the woman surveyed the room, her brown eyes, still squinting, came to rest on the curtains from which the beautiful birdsong could be heard.

"Shut the hell UP!" shouted the woman, and a bottle of water that had previously sat by the bed hit the window with a loud bang. The startled bird immediately took flight into the cerulean sky, and the small town shrank below as he flew higher and higher, wingtips outstretched.

The woman closed her eyes and rolled back under the covers, soon she was breathing deeply again. The large cat gave a yawn and hauled itself up, padding softly across the crème carpet it slowly made its way through the hallway to the main room. The lounge and kitchen were separated by a small counter, which doubled as a kitchen work surface. The cat entered the kitchen and walked towards a white back door leading to a small balcony, ignoring the cat flap it sat down and yowled as loudly as it could.

Kagome Higurashi was not in a good mood, she had been woken at the crack of dawn, well perhaps ten o'clock in the morning, but to most students that _is_ the crack of dawn. Then Buyo had been moaning to be let outside and then to be let back in, and then to be fed, _again_. Now she was at her part-time job, a tiny coffee house that also made and sold speciality chocolate. The owners were an old couple; they had opened up the shop upon their retirement and took great pleasure running it. They treated Kagome like a daughter and so often forgave her late appearances, she was a hard worker in any case, and due to her large eyes and flowing black hair she attracted a lot of customers. The old woman who ran the store, Kaede, elbowed Kagome gently,

"Look who it is! Coming in for his afternoon latte, and to stutter away at our lovely Kagome of course." She winked her good eye and toddled away, leaving Kagome to deal with the man now walking towards the counter.

The man approached with an air of cautious determination, he had light brown hair and dark eyes, the female customers in the shop eagerly watched him. He had an air of innocence, which only added to his already handsome features. Not only that he was in his final year at medical school, predicted a 1st degree, and a very nice and caring man. He was, according to Kaede, "the ideal man to take care of my Kagome", sometimes she'd even tack on a "when I'm gone" at the end of that sentence and sniff dramatically. Kagome however, firstly disagreed that she needed to be taken care of, she was doing a fine job thank you very much, and secondly there was something about him that was just a little…well she wasn't quite sure, but it classified as a reason all the same. Still, she greeted him with a smile,

"Good morning Hojo, what can I get you today?"

The man halted at the counter, and a slight blush appeared on his face, "Good morning Kagome," he took a deep breath, "youlookverynicetoday, can I have a café latte please?" his eyes fell back to the counter.

"Thank you Hojo, I'll make that for you and bring it to your table, ok?" Kagome smiled. Hojo nodded, glanced up briefly locking eyes with Kagome, and then practically ran to his usual table in the corner.

Kagome could almost hear Kaede's smirk, "Got something to say have you?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Don't know what you mean dear, I just think that he'd make a lovely husband for you, because I won't live forever you know. I want to hear the pitter-patter of little feet in here."

"I could put shoes on Buyo?"

Ignoring Kaede's disgruntled mutters; Kagome carefully carried Hojo's drink and placed it on the glossy wooden tabletop.

At six o'clock Kaede and Kagome began to shut up the shop, pulling down the shutters Kagome sighed and reached up and released her long ebony hair from where she had tied it in a ponytail earlier in the day. Running her fingers quickly through to detangle it, Kagome turned and walked into the small backroom in the shop to fetch her coat.

Dressed in her grey button up coat she waved goodbye to Kaede and stuffed her hands into her pockets. The evening was not overly cold and Kagome strolled through the streets until she reached her flat. Walking up the stairs she spent a while digging around for her keys, and then let herself into her flat. Buyo was stretched out on the radiator in the lounge, sighing deeply Kagome flung her coat at the sofa and flopped down gracelessly into the middle. The squishy cushions seemed to want to eat her whole, and this was part of the reason she had brought this sofa, digging under the cushions she found the remote and switched on the TV. Finding nothing much of interest she left it on for background noise and picked up the small laptop from the floor. Turning it on she began to write, having only written two books so far, she was a little concerned about her third. She had originally written the first whilst still in college at the tender age of nineteen. It had been an experiment of sorts, a way to express herself and allow other people to see the story that had dominated her imagination from an early age. It had been greatly received, and even won a prize. So the public had clamoured for more and she had a publishing deal, the second book had also been popular. The problem was, for her third novel her agent had suggested a "real-world romance", she mainly specialised in fantasy writing so had been stumped at this suggestion. Her problem was that she was having great difficulty creating her main characters; her agent rejected all the models she put before her. They were too bland, too unrealistic, too perfect, too…many other things, it was incredibly frustrating.

Getting up she went into the kitchen area and made an instant coffee, picking up the phone she pressed the button that played her voicemail. The first message to play was her agent asking how she was doing with characterisation, Kagome sighed and made a mental note to call her in the morning. The last message was from her mother,

"Kagome? Sorry to call when you're obviously busy but I haven't heard from you in a while darling. I know how stressed you are about work but you can pop home at anytime just to relax, have some of Mama's home cooking? Grandpa's doing well and I think Souta has a girlfriend – "She's not my girlfriend!" came the shouted interruption – "Well, I hope to hear from you soon, love you."

For a brief moment Kagome considered catching the train home and never returning, not bothering to write a new novel and instead help dust some of her Grandpa's old relics and charms. Kagome's Grandpa was a very superstitious man, holding all sorts of charms and wards against demons, he claimed to be well over a hundred years old, but from an early age Kagome had learned that her Grandpa had a rather overactive imagination.

Deciding to call her mother later, Kagome carried her coffee back to the lounge and set the mug down on a small oak table sparing it a small glance. The mug was round, pink and shaped like a large bottom; neon green letters blazed the slogan "Does my bum look big in this?" across it. It had been brought for her by Kaede who had declared it "hilarious" and nearly died laughing in the shop, until the manager had come to whisper to Kagome about her Grandmother's mental health, for which he received a large smack across the head with Kaede's cane. Kaede had immediately purchased it and then when they had been walking back decided suddenly that she was actually far too old to have such a mug, and so given it to Kagome.

A loud pitter-patter interrupted Kagome's thoughts, and for a second she feared that mini Kagome-Hojo lookalikes would come running around the corner, before she realised it had started to rain, heavily. Kagome settled back, the rain was nice when you were tucked up inside with a hot cup of coffee she decided. Putting her laptop to one side she lay back and closed her eyes to relax.

And that was the moment when her door flew off its hinges, hurtling into the opposite wall with a crash, and a dirty, wet person collapsed onto her nice crème carpet outlined by an array of splintered wood.

**A/N** – If you got this far without giving up then I applaud you, and ask you kindly to review…through the medium of dance! (Byrdie performs a "please review" dance). Also at this moment I do not have a beta reader, therefore any suggestions on general style, flow, spelling, grammar etc. are greatly appreciated. What do you think about chapter length if you want me to continue? Longer? Shorter? I am your humble servant - Byrdie.

**Next Chapter** – Surprise is probably the correct reaction to waking up and finding a murderous looking woman clutching a rolling pin, staring at you.


	2. We cannot Tame Wild Things

**Those Scribbles on Tree Bark**

**A/N** - Why hello there! I thought I'd post this to give you a bit more of a taster to the story as a whole because there's a bit more interaction in this chapter between Inuyasha and Kagome, but I wouldn't expect any lovey-dovey bits. You know the whole, "as she treats his wounds he looks into her eyes and realises how in love he is"…think more "she puts a little more of the stingy stuff on his wounds then is strictly necessary while he threatens to bite off her nose"…or something like that. Fear not my friends, this is still an InuKag.

Thank you so much to **Tweak3013** who gave me my first comment – you cannot imagine how happy you made me! My cat on the other hand, can not only imagine how happy I was, but will probably tell you how annoying it was to be repeatedly told about said happiness.

I do not own Inuyasha, or Crabtree and Evelyn…or many other things…

**Chapter 2** – We Cannot Tame a Wild Thing

When she was seven years old Kagome had found an injured feral cat in the temple grounds. She had taken in to the vet, who had stitched up a large cut on the animal's back leg. Then she had brought down a blanket from her own bed and made a warm comfy place on which it could sleep, often bringing warm milk and leftover food to help the cat regain its strength. Having taken care of it for almost a month she had even named him and decided that he could sleep in the house, and perhaps be her pet; Kagome had always wanted a cat. One day however when she went to see the cat, carefully holding a saucer of milk in her hand, he dodged away from her and ran straight through the storage room door. Kagome had hurried after him, searching until it was dark and calling his name over and over again. Her mother had found her sitting by a large tree, tears streaming down her face. Picking her up gently her mother had patted her back,

"You did a good thing, Kagome, now he can happily return to where he came from, thanks to you taking him in and caring for him so well. But the cat was wild. We cannot tame wild things and we cannot change their nature."

This thing that had staggered through her door and promptly collapsed, sparked her memory of the feral cat, it was dripping wet and caked in mud and seemed to be in a rather bad state. Cautiously she backed away from it, returning with a rolling pin in her hand in case it was some sort of wildman, a woman who lived alone couldn't be overcautious Kagome reminded herself. Gingerly stepping closer, Kagome raised the kitchen implement, reading to strike at the slightest provocation. The thing appeared to be stirring slightly, it was making groaning sounds and slowly it lifted its head, amber eyes suddenly opened.

And then it jerked backwards in surprise, the sudden movement causing Kagome's nerves to crack, and she hit the man on the head with the rolling pin.

Almost instantly realising that the man had not actually been about to attack her, and realising that surprise was probably the correct reaction to waking up and finding a murderous looking woman clutching a rolling pin, staring at you; Kagome dropped the rolling pin and bent to inspect the damage.

He was definitely unconscious now, but on closer inspection his face and body were covered in blood and wounds. Taking a cautious sniff Kagome also came to the conclusion that the man smelt rather bad, like the neighbour's dog after it had been swimming in the local pond.

Deciding that she needed to get him clean before looking at any cuts, Kagome attempted to haul the man to the bathroom. Due to what she would swear was his heaviness and certainly not her weak strength, she ended up picking up his feet and dragging him to the bathroom splayed on the floor like some sort of sacrifice. Feeling rather primitive for clubbing her victim over the head and dragging him around like some sort of cavewoman, Kagome attempted to make up for it by putting her nice bubble bath into the pristine white tub. It was usually reserved for her mother's visits or if Kaede ever stopped by. The bath was filling quickly and Kagome checked the temperature with her hand as she swished the water around creating more bubbles.

When the bath was full Kagome turned to look at the man lying, arms above his head and legs akimbo from being dragged, then deciding that she couldn't bring herself to undress him, slowly and awkwardly dumped him haphazardly into the bath. Turning to leave, planning on letting him soak like a saucepan with a stubborn stain, she hesitated and quickly returned; remembering just in time to pull his head out of the water and sort of dangle it over the side of the bath.

Standing on a chair in the kitchen in order to reach the top cupboard, Kagome pulled out a box stuffed with plasters, cough syrup and antiseptic. She walked back into the bathroom to see how her newly acquired patient was doing.

Well he hadn't drowned, but his red clothes had billowed out where air was trapped inside making him appear rather like a large fat man with an inordinately small head.

Then she noticed the state of the bathwater, brown and murky in a way that pond weed would not have looked out of place in it. She briefly considered pushing his head under and holding it there for this affront to her beloved white bathtub.

No, she realised, the bathtub wouldn't have wanted it to be that way.

Reaching into the murky depths with a wince, she pulled the plug and watched the muddy water drain away. Kagome then picked up the showerhead from its stand above the bath and switched it on; she swilled off her victim, idly wondering when he had changed in her mind from "patient" to "victim".

Directing some spray towards his face she continued until her attention was caught by two dog ears on the man's head. Rolling her eyes in understanding she realised that this was probably some drunken student from the university in fancy dress. Sighing she reached down and pulled at the fake ears, they didn't budge. Brushing her fringe aside with her arm, a slight frown on her forehead, she tried again.

The ears were definitely attached to his head; she could feel where the bottom met with the top of his head. She ran her thumbs along the insides and round the back, and then began to scratch behind them absentmindedly. The ears gave a twitch, and the man appeared to be slowly regaining consciousness. Amber eyes slowly opened, blinking profusely as the man took in his surroundings. Once again Kagome felt the eyes bore into her own,

"Another one of Naraku's wenches? You think you can beat me with your wooden baton?" with a groan he attempted to lift himself, but his arm gave out and he sank back into the tub.

"What? Naraku? What on earth do you mean?" Kagome said, taken aback by the sudden questioning.

"You have that stench like a demon, in fact, this whole room stinks!" He complained, raising a hand to cover his nose.

"That's Crabtree and Evelyn bath bubbles, luscious scent of rose and hibiscus!" Kagome quoted from the bottle, "Demon stench? This is expensive stuff I'll have you know!" she said shaking the bottle at him in her irritation. Then she reached into the tub and attempted to haul him out.

"What are you doing? Get your hands off me wench!" he shouted, arms weakly attempting to bat Kagome away as she tried to drag him from the bath tub. Eventually managing to get him into a slumped sitting position on the floor, Kagome stood up and with her arms folded glared down into a narrowed pair of eyes.

"Now listen here…dog, man…thing! This is my flat you barged into; I have not only cleaned you up while you were unconscious-"

"You were the one that knocked me unconscious…with your demon weaponry!" he added for good measure

"That's not the point al- wait. Demon weaponry? You mean the rolling pin? That for making pies you idiot!"

"Ah! I knew it! You're trying to make me into a pie!" He finished his sentence by growling at her.

Kagome breathed in a deep breath and mentally assessed the situation in the same way she ran through plot lines. There was some sort of mutant man in her bathroom, he was accusing her of being a demon as if _she_ were the weird one in this setup, he still appeared badly injured and, oh yes, thought she was going to make him into a pie and eat him. Briefly her mind considered if anyone could have slipped something into her drink.

"Look," she began calmly, "I'm not a demon, and I'm not going to eat you or hit you again with the rolling pin. So will you kindly dry yourself off on that lovely fluffy towel over there – not the posh one with the rose pattern mind – and I'll try and find you some clothes." Kagome turned and walked away firmly shutting the door behind her, not bothering to wait for an answer.

Walking into the kitchen where Buyo stood by his food bowl yowling, she picked up the cordless phone. Scrolling through a list of phone numbers she reached Hojo's and pressed the call button. He answered after a few rings and Kagome, thanking her mind for being the mind of an author began her story.

"…So you see Hojo, my friend is in a very delicate state at the moment and he needs some clothes. I'm so sorry to trouble you this late at-"

"Honestly Kagome, don't worry about it. He must feel awful, I didn't realise we had wombats in Japan…or that they sometimes attacked in herds. Having had his hair accidently bleached in a chemical truck crash just before must just add salt to the wound I should imagine! I'll drive over; hopefully if the traffic isn't too bad I'll get there in about ten minutes."

Quickly dampening a cloth, Kagome attempted to clean her precious floor. Buyo, apparently annoyed at being ignored, decided to waddle over and roll on the dirty floor. Having managed to get most of the dirt and mud off the floor, so Hojo didn't think that she habitually dragged her friends across floors, Kagome heard the bell ring and started towards the door.

And stopped again.

The mutant man had dog ears poking out of his head for God's sake! Hojo would probably notice this small irregularity. Squeezing her eyes shut, Kagome wished for it all to go away and to go back to being a normal person with a normal life; someone who didn't harbour mutants in their bathrooms on a Friday evening.

When she eventually accepted that this method wasn't working, she rushed back to the bathroom and knocked on the door,

"Dog-boy, I'm coming in so get a towel and wrap it round your waist!"

Entering the room she was relieved to see that he had done what she'd asked, reaching into the bathroom cabinet she pulled out a baby-blue towel with an elastic loop sewn at one end.

"Right! My friend is here to give you some warm clothes so you're going to have to put this on your head."

Sniffing the proffered blue towel, the man sneered and stuck his nose in the air, "What ever the hell that is wench, I am not wearing it!"

"It's a turby-towel dog-breath! I made it in textiles ages ago, it's so you can easily make a turban on your head that'll stay in place because of the elastic." Before he could protest further, Kagome shoved it on his head, twirled it and secured the turban with the elastic. Seeming satisfied with her creation, if the proud nod was anything to go by, she ran to answer the door.

"Hojo! Sorry it took me so long; it's good to see you." Kagome smiled as she led him into her lounge.

The dog-man was in her lounge, crouched down; and he was sniffing Buyo.

"Oh, so this is the thing that had Kirara's scent."

"He does seem deeply disturbed" Hojo said quietly, crouching down. Very slowly he began to talk to the dog mutant, "I've brought you some clothes you can wear, don't worry about returning them, you keep them as long as you need. Kagome here will look after you until you're better, and I'm almost fully trained as a doctor, so any minor ailments and you come straight to me." He smiled kindly as if talking to a child, Kagome watched in horror as the dog-man moved forward, his face incredibly close to Hojo's.

"Who the hell said I'd want your clothes? I sure as hell don't want to dress like you! These weird garments, who'd wear them? I'm certainly not going to, you can forget it human!" and then he stuck his nose into the air and glared at Hojo as if he were some disgusting smell he was eager to avoid.

Kagome gave Hojo's arm a slight tug, "Well, as you can see he's not really up to seeing people at the moment so it might be best if you left." With a charming smile she proceeded to steer him in the direction of the door, "Thanks so much Hojo, I don't know what I'd have done without you. I'll see you soon, bye!" and as Hojo absentmindedly murmured his goodbye a shout was heard from the lounge,

"What the hell is this contraption? Are you trying to trick me demon? I can't see, I can't see!" followed by a loud bang.

Shutting the door and turning quickly, Kagome went back into the lounge. Disturbingly the dog-man appeared to be wrestling with a pair of jeans around his neck, and a sock on his hand.

Disturbingly, Kagome noted, the jeans and sock appeared to be winning.

Having finally managed to get the mutant dressed in some jeans, Kagome began looking at the wounds on his chest. One large gash ran along his side, and it had started to bleed, Kagome noted that the mutant appeared rather pale and was definitely in a lot more pain then he was letting on. She dabbed some cotton wool with disinfectant and applied it to the wound. The dog-man let out a howl, and with a surge of strength managed to run a few feet before collapsing again.

"Oh grow up! It doesn't hurt that much, and I'm trying to help here, you could at least stay still because I'm certainly not going to chase you." Then with a gasp of surprise, brown eyes widening in horror she ground out, "You're getting blood on my cream carpet! Do you know how hard blood is to get out huh? It's worse then red wine, at least then you can just pour white wine on top of it!"

The dog-man did not appear to appreciate the house keeping tip, and instead was quietly growling at her, amber eyes narrow and suspicious.

"Trying to kill me with your magic potion wench? I am Inuyasha, and I will not be killed by a little girl!" He sneered, looking her up and down disgustedly.

"Little girl? I'm twenty two, and it's antiseptic to stop your cuts getting infected. I'm not trying to kill you, despite you tempting me to, so you can stop with all that. And it's not 'wench', it's Kagome. Ka-go-me, not difficult to remember or pronounce." Having finished her deadpan rant she took a deep breath and continued in a more open tone, "So while I am doing you the favour of treating your wounds, and taking you in, and not calling the zoo; you can do me the favour of explaining who and what you are, and what you're doing in my flat."

The dog-man stopped growling and Kagome was able to walk over to him, she patted him on the head and sat down, once again applying antiseptic.

"Pat me on the head again and I'll bite off your nose we-OW" he yelled as Kagome pressed the antiseptic into his wounds a little harder then was strictly necessary.

"No more 'wench', and don't threaten me, the state you're in you couldn't fight Buyo, let alone me." She said through gritted teeth.

The mutant muttered under his breath, and from the tone of his voice Kagome figured she didn't want to know whatever profanities he was describing her with. Clicking her tongue she pressed harder with the antiseptic cloth again,

"OW, stop doing that! Stupid crazy wen-OW! Alright! I'm Inuyasha, I was injured by Naraku, that bastard! When I find him I'm going to-" noticing her glare he rolled his eyes and carried on with his story, "He wants the Shikon no Tama to become more powerful, and will kill any one and anything to get it. Whole villages have been wiped out, and he tried to kill me fifty years ago that was his big mistake-"

"Fifty years ago?" Kagome interrupted, she was listening intently, purely due to her instincts as a novelist she told herself. "You're looking good for fifty."

"We demons don't age the same as you weak and puny huma-OW!" he glared at her, "I think you're hurting me on purpose wench, may I remind you that I am a powerful demon and you are a human with your puny wooden baton as your only protection." He gave Kagome a feral grin and cracked his knuckles.

"Uh-huh, and may I remind you that you already lost once against me and my rolling pin." She put her face close to his and smirked, "So you are a demon then, not a drunken student who glued dog ears to their head or something?"

"I'm a hanyou, a half-demon, yes." He said uncomfortably, "but with the Shikon no Tama I can become a full demon."

"So you and this Naraku bloke are sort of after the same goal then?" She said, and stopped upon seeing his face. His expression was thunderous and he refused to look at her. Sighing deeply, Kagome continued to disinfect his wounds and bandage him up; his company was somehow much more enjoyable when he wasn't talking anyway.

After she had finished, she looked up to find that Inuyasha appeared to have fallen asleep slumped against the sofa. A small amount of remorse crossed her mind, and swiftly exited at the memory of the hanyou's rudeness and immaturity. Still, she supposed she could give up her bed for one night, in the morning she would turf him out and her life would become normal again.

Giving him a slight shake, Kagome managed to half lead and half drag Inuyasha to her bedroom. Pulling the covers over him, she felt his forehead; he was running quite a high fever. Bringing a glass of water from the kitchen, she laid it on a flower coaster on the bedside table, switched off the alarm clock and the light and softly closed the door.

After feeding Buyo, Kagome finally was able to flop down on the sofa and stretch her limbs with a crack. Turning on the TV, she set the volume to its lowest setting and curled up on her fabulously squishy sofa. Her brown eyes fluttered closed as sleep enveloped her in its comforting grasp, one last thought flittered across her mind as she drifted off.

Kaede would be ecstatic to learn that a topless man was currently residing in her bed.

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**A/N** – So I really hope you like this, is it worth continuation or not? At the moment I am unbetad, so all your comments are really appreciated! So please hit the pretty little review button and make my day. Also just as a little information – there is a student at my university who wears cat ears to every lecture and everywhere he goes. Hence Kagome wasn't overly surprised at first, I mean the other day I saw a guy in a man-kini (Borat style) get dumped in a bath full of custard and I saw someone else dressed as a giant chicken going around knocking on doors. We live in a strange and beautiful world don't we?

Next Chapter – Will have more of Inuyasha's POV, this chapter was in Kagome's (in case you couldn't tell).


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